What is a limerick?
Definition
Rhyme pattern: AABBA
Have a pattern of 8,8,5,5,8 (syllables)
Were originally written by Edward Lear
Line 1 introduces the character
Lines 1,2, & 5 rhyme
Lines 3 & 4 also rhyme
Sample of Edward Lear’s Limericks
There was an old man of Peru
Who dreamt he was eating his shoe
He woke in the night
With a terrible fright
To find it was perfectly true.
ANOTHER ONE
There was an old man from Blackheath,
Who sat on his set of false teeth.
He said, in his pain,
The blue=stressed
syllables
“I’ve done it again,
Others are
I’ve bitten myself underneath.
the unstressed
.
* Notice the METER/Rythm of the poem
syllables
Da DUM, Da Da DUM, Da, da, DUM- Eight syllables- 3BEATS
Da DUM, Da Da DUM, Da, da, DUM- Seven syllables- 3BEATS
Da DUM,
Da Da DUM - Five syllables TWO BEATS
Da DUM,
Da Da DUM - Five syllables TWO BEATS
Da DUM, Da Da DUM, Da, da, DUM- Seven syllables- 3BEATS
Try to find the stressed and unstressed syllables
in this limerick.
There was a young fellow named Hall,
Who fell in the spring in the fall;
Twould have been a sad thing
If he had died in the spring.
But he didn't- he died in the fall.
This limerick also uses a type of figurative language called a PUN.
A pun is a humorous way of using a word or words so that more than one
meaning is suggested.
CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE PUN?
Write your own!
Line 1: RP A / 8 syllables 3 Beats / a
character
Line 2: RP A / 8 syllables 3 beats/ plot
(exposition)
Line 3: RP B / 5 syllables 2beats / plot
Line 4: RP B / 5 syllables 2 beats / plot
Line 5: RP A / 8 syllables 3 beats / plot
(resolution)